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By Anthony Vargas, Reporter
NEGOTIATIONS for the release of
abducted Italian priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi got snagged by “an
internal problem” Tuesday as the military command dispatched elite
troops to track down the kidnappers in Central Mindanao.
Maj. Gen. Ben Mohammad Dolorfino
said the snag was an “internal problem” within the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF). The latter has been working with the
government military to rescue Father Bossi and is brokering the
negotiations with the kidnappers.
“While the negotiations so far
have failed to produce results, we realize there’s a need to
continue being in contact with the kidnappers,” Dolorfino, who
co-chairs the Ad-hoc Joint Action Group (AH-JAG), told defense
reporters.
The official declined to say what
the “internal problem” was. But he expressed hopes that the
57-year-old priest would soon be released unharmed.
Dolorfino said that the AFP
command was inclined to negotiate instead of launching military
operations to rescue Bossi, which might compromise the priest’s
safety.
That view is not held,
apparently, by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front commanders working
with the AFP.
“Rescue mode means you will
operate, you will assault. That will not happen,” Dolorfino
said, adding that the military rejected the MILF’s proposal to
move to rescue the priest early on Tuesday.
AFP chief of staff, Gen. Hermogenes
Esperon Jr., said elite troops from the Scout Rangers were sent to
assist regular troops in the pursuit and rescue operations.
“The operations are now
centered in an area between Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur. We
have good prospects,” Esperon said during a Tuesday’s weekly
forum in Camp Crame.
He refuses to discuss the details
of the operations in the two Lanao provinces since this could
endanger the safety of Bossi.
“Let’s pray that he [Bossi]
could be free this afternoon. There are ongoing operations.
There’s a pinpointed location,” Esperon said in the press forum
where he was the guest.
He said they have sufficient
numbers of troops in the area, which other armed abductors in past
kidnappings have used as their sanctuary and hiding place for their
victims.
The military earlier admitted
that Bossi and his captors were able to slip past military dragnets
set up in Naga town in Zamboanga Sibugay province.
Earlier Tuesday, Esperon said
that the government military and not the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF) is the lead group in the rescue efforts for Father
Bossi.
Esperon said the military is
working closely with the Philippine National Police in the rescue
efforts.
He said MILF troops only have a
support status in the operations.
But in an ANC interview,
Dolorfino said the Armed Forces and the MILF are now discussing the
rescue operation and “how to carry it out jointly.”
Dolorfino, however, said the
government troops will take over the rescue mission from the MILF
Tuesday. “They [the government officers on scene] are now
discussing the final details so that the government will [conduct
the main rescue] with the MILF providing support.”
Bossi of Milan, Italy, was taken
at gunpoint by bonnet-wearing men in a remote village of Payao town
in Zamboanga Sibugay while on his way to say Mass last June 10.
Bossi is the third Italian priest
to be kidnapped by bandits in the Zamboanga Peninsula. Fr. Luciano
Benedetti was abducted in 1998 and Fr. Guiseppe Pierantoni in 2000.
Both were released by their captors.
Meanwhile, although appreciating
the efforts of the government in the search for Bossi, the Catholic
Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said on Tuesday that it
is not pleased with the way the government is handling the case of
other abduction victims.
The CBCP president, Jaro
Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, said that authorities are doing a good
job to find Father Bossi, but the same zeal and dedication should
also be applied to finding other victims, like Jonas Burgos, son of
the late journalist Joe Burgos.
“The government should also
exert effort finding those who are victims of mysterious
disappearances,” Bishop Lagdameo said.
He stressed that the government
should consider the series of disappearances and abductions as “a
serious matter.”
He called on the Arroyo
administration to investigate and clarify the fate of those who
disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
“They should be able to bring
the perpetrators to justice,” he said.
Lagdameo earlier said they are
both “shamed and saddened” over the Philippines’ being ranked
among countries with significant number of unresolved cases of
disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
He lamented the common perception
that victims and their immediate relatives appeals may have
“fallen on deaf ears.”
--With William Depasupil
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